Our second Annual Conference, hosted in partnership with Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network, explored issues of hardship and crises that have emerged through the second year of this project. We heard from service users, partners and the project team on their experiences in the last year, how they have developed the project within their communities, and in what ways the different systems that we work with can help co-produce smarter pathways towards support and services.

Our Key Note Speaker was David Robinson, OBE, Founder of Community Links, who responded to what he heard throughout the conference and on the importance of early action and meaningful relationships as a driver for affecting system change.

Click below to see a short film of the conference

Universal Credit Network Event – 7 February 2018

In partnership with Wandsworth Foodbank, Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network and the Department for Work and Pensions, we hosted an Advice Network Event focused on the roll-out of Universal Credit in the borough. Over 60 attendees heard details of the roll-out from DWP representatives and had the opportunity to ask questions. We then held group discussions on the expected impact of Universal Credit roll-out on residents of Wandsworth, and how we can best work together to support them and reduce negative impact on our clients.

Help Through Hardship Crisis Annual Conference

Over 80 people from across our network attended, providing us with a collective opportunity to share and understand the barriers and opportunities to become more collaborative. The conference closed with Paul Martin, CEO Richmond and Wandsworth Borough Councils, speaking on 10 points he had noticed in from the changing environment we live in, and offered some reflections on the challenges and opportunities for system change.

Click on the picture to see the conference film.

Click on the photo above to see the film of the conference.

Help Through Hardship Crisis Network Event

Date: 6th December 2016

Location: Balham Library

The event was introduced by Beth Rattigan, Citizens Advice Wandsworth Help through Hardship Crisis Project Manager, Phil Jew, Citizens Advice Wandsworth Chief Executive and Malik Gul, Director, Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network.
Over 50 people representing community, voluntary and statutory organisations participated, including the Big Lottery Fund, South West London and St Georges Mental Health Trust, Be Enriched, Thames Reach and South Thames College.

Project partners, Elays Network, S.T.O.R.M and The Hope Project, and Citizens Advice project advisers presented case studies to 5 groups of participants and facilitated discussions on what does not work well in the system and how we can better support people facing hardship crisis as a network. Participants also heard from Mandy Skinner, Assistant Chief Executive, Customers and Partnerships serving Wandsworth and Richmond Councils, who spoke about hardship crisis and highlighted Wandsworth council’s commitment to working in partnership to build effective systems to support communities facing hardship in Wandsworth.

View the short film of the Network Event below along with notes from the network event. For more information, see ‘About the Project’ below and use the Contact form to contact the project team.